Grade10-Terrorism

Al-Qaeda

1. What is it ?

- Al-Qaeda was spelled Al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa’ida. When Soviet retreat from Afghanistan in 1990s, the Al-Qaeda separated. However, they still work to go against what its leaders believed corrupt Islamic politics and foreign interceptions in Islamic lands. Al Qaeda is militant Islamist organization founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s

Al-Qaeda began as a logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War; members were recruited throughout the Islamic world. When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization dispersed but continued. In 1979, when Soviet Union invade Afghanistan, Al Qaeda participate Afghanistan as a mercenary. Al Qaeda was organized by Osama bin Laden. It is international terrorist network. In 1991, As Gulf war has happened, this organization has changed to Anti-American force. Al Qaeda has enormous funds and military power by Osama bin Laden. They are working in Pakistan, Philippines, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, England, and Canada and about 34 countries they are working in. They were carefully working and slowly expand their active region. In 1998, Egypt’s Islamic fundamentalism organization Jihad and Islam are called altogether “Al Qaeda Al Jihad” In 11/09/2001, America Manhattan’s 110 floors Twin Tower was terror. Many people thought that driver of this plane were Osama bin Laden. Also, Ayman al-Zawahiri who was commending this terror. Ayman al-Zawahiri was Osama bin Laden’s follower and in America, they are saying that these people lead other people for the terror.

2. Where is it?

Some al-Qaeda members at large probably will attempt to carry out future attacks against US interests. Other known areas of operation: United States, Yemen, Germany, Pakistan.
Al-Qaida is a multi-national network possessing a global reach and has supported through financing, training and logistics, Islamic militants in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Chechnya, Eritrea, Kosovo, the Philippines, Somalia, Tajikistan, and Yemen, and now Kosovo. Additionally, al-Qaida has been linked to conflicts and attacks in Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Republics, the Middle East, as well as North and South America.
The headquarters of al-Qaeda are not known anymore.

From 1991 to 1996, al-Qaeda worked out of Sudan.
From 1996 until the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, al-Qaeda operated out of Afghanistan and maintained its training camps there.
U.S. intelligence officials now think al-Qaeda’s senior leadership is trying to regroup in lawless tribal regions just inside Pakistan, near the Afghan border, inside Pakistani cities or in Iran.
In May 2003, administration officials claimed that senior al-Qaeda figures were in Iran and urged Tehran to apprehend them. Sa'ad bin Laden, Usama bin Laden's son, in an October 2003 report, is said be among those in Iran.
Al-Qaeda has autonomous underground cells in some 100 countries, including the United States, officials say. Law enforcement has broken up al-Qaeda cells in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Albania, Uganda, and elsewhere.

3. Who is it ?

Osama Bin Laden
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Abu Hamza al-Muhajir
Sheikh Said
Saif al-Adel
Abu Mohammed al-Masri
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith
Thirwat Salah Shirhata
In custody
Abu Faraj al-Libbi
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Ramzi Binalshibh
Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi
Mohammed Haydar Zammar
Ali Abdul Rahman al-Ghamdi
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Mohsen F
Jailed
Zacarias Moussaoui
Mounir al-Motassadek
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri
Richard Reid.

Dead or believed dead.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Amjad Farooqi
Mohammed Atef
Ali Qaed Senyan al-Harthi
Abu Hazim al-Shair
Omar al-Farouq

Location and Area that they operate

1. Leader: Usama bin Laden

2. Here is the list of some organization that could have helped Al Qaeda:

Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt)
Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
Bayt al-Imam (Jordan)
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir)
Hezbollah (Lebanon)
Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines)
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen)

4. What do they do ?

1. Al Qaeda is guilty of these attacks:

May 12, 2003: car bomb attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
November 2002: car bomb attack in Mombasa, Kenya
October 2002: attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen
Spring 2002: several bombings in Pakistan
April 2002: explosion of a fuel tanker outside a synagogue in Tunisia
April 2002: explosion of a fuel tanker outside a synagogue in Tunisia
September 11, 2001: attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York, USA.